Health 2.0 – 4 letters and some Photos Too

Here are my photos, with a tiny bit of emphasis on the DC contingent (click any to see larger)

It’s hard to keep up with the energy here. In March, 2008, the motto (thanks to Susannah Fox), was “7 words.” This time, we seem to have become more efficient, and the motto is “4 letters,” and the driving 4 are “H-T-M-L” coined by Anna-Lisa Silvestre, VP of Online Services for Kaiser Permanente.

Why? Because during the consumer engagement demonstrations, Anna-Lisa’s team prepared the user experience based on static HTML to demonstrate the look and feel, rather than a dynamic demonstration. The others did not fare as well. But that’s okay with me – doing live demonstrations are never easy, and I trust that the organizations involved are going to do great work. I’ve had worse happen on stage – it happens. Perfection is not expected, just the ability to fix mistakes quickly.

I was asked yesterday about the energy level, and my answer is based on comparison to meetings which are of people working to help other people (clinicians, doctors, nurses). This gathering is of people who are working to help people just like them, and who are empowered enough to know what is needed. It’s very stimulating for me, and it should be stimulating for our health system. There is so much more we can do for patients that we aren’t doing, yet.

One more 4 letter word – Jane Sarasohn-Kahn (quoted in the New York Times today) mentioned to me that on our panel yesterday that the doctor, the patient, and the health economist did not disagree when it came to talking about Health 2.0, when it might be expected that we should. I have been saying that the killer app of Health 2.0 is “listening to people” but I like that Jane said: